L-R: Sarah Bond, Tiriki Onus, Kynan Clarke, Tony Briggs, Phoebe Watson and Michael Hudson. Photo by Joshua Scott.
VicScreen has launched its First Peoples Screen Strategy, a four-year roadmap to grow First Peoples careers and businesses and strengthen First Peoples storytelling across Victoria’s screen industry.
Developed under the leadership of the VicScreen First Peoples Working Group, the First Peoples Screen Strategy 2026-2030 sets a clear vision for a thriving First Peoples-led screen sector in Victoria that honours cultural sovereignty and champions storytelling excellence.
The strategy is the culmination of extensive consultation undertaken throughout 2024 and 2025 with First Peoples screen practitioners, industry stakeholders and community members. These consultations identified key challenges and opportunities for advancing First Peoples careers, businesses and storytelling within Victoria’s screen industry.
The strategy outlines four priorities to drive meaningful and lasting change across the sector:
- Give Voice: Empower First Peoples content creators and screen leaders.
- Open Doors: Grow First Peoples participation across the screen industry.
- Grow Audiences: Connect First Peoples stories with local, national and international audiences.
- Be Better: Continue evolving the way VicScreen works to better support the practices, aspirations and needs of First Peoples screen practitioners.
Through bold and practical actions shaped by First Peoples screen practitioners, VicScreen will help transform the screen landscape to better reflect the depth, diversity and excellence of First Peoples storytelling.
The strategy supports First Peoples creatives working across film, television, online content and games, strengthening pathways for success locally, nationally and globally.
The new strategy is available to view in full online at https://vicscreen.vic.gov.au/first-peoples-screen/
Tiriki Onus VicScreen, Board Member said, “Screens have been a powerful platform for First Peoples’ communities in these lands for the best part of a century and the launch of the VicScreen First Peoples Screen Strategy offers an exciting opportunity to have the sort of conversations which have seemed out of reach for so many within our broader society. Stories of strength and resilience which come from First Peoples remind us that all of us who call these lands home are part of a continuum of creative practice which has thrived in this place for thousands of generations. The medium may have changed, and our audiences have become even more diverse, but the way stories call our whole selves to listen and invite us to grow, feel and dream together are, and will always remain, timeless.”
Caroline Pitcher, VicScreen CEO said, “More than a statement of intent, this Strategy is a roadmap for action. It celebrates the storytelling traditions of the world’s oldest continuing living culture and sets a clear path to grow opportunities for First Peoples creatives, strengthen careers and businesses, and elevate First Peoples stories on screens locally and globally. I thank the VicScreen First Peoples Working Group for their vision and leadership in developing this important strategy.”